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Detail from theFoligno relief of the Circus Maximus, showing the shrine of Murcia with a myrtle tree in the lower right, just above the broken corner[1]
Murcia was a little-known goddess inancient Rome. Her name occurs as an epithet ofVenus.[2]
According toLivy[3] she had a temple at the foot of theAventine Hill near to thePalatine Hill.Murcus is said to have been an old name for theAventine Hill itself;[4] hence the adjectivemurtius (=murcius) was applied to the turning-posts of theCircus Maximus, which was also situated in a valley between the Aventine and the Palatine Hills.[5]
The name Murcia was linked to the name of themyrtle tree (Latinmyrtus) byfolk etymology; hence the spellings Murtia and Murtea. This association with myrtle, which was a sign ofVenus, led to her naming as "Venus of the Myrtles".[6][7] Christian writers, in their turn, connected Murcia with the adjectivemurcus ormurcidus "lazy, inactive", thus interpreting her as a "goddess of sloth and laziness".[8][9]
